If there’s a team in the league that makes a bigger deal of playing a game on the second night of a back-to-back than the Spurs, feel free to point me in that direction.

It just doesn’t seem possible, especially considering what we’ve seen and heard from Gregg Popovich about it so far this season.

Popovich famously sent four of his starters home to rest, instead of having them play in a nationally televised contest against the defending champion Miami Heat. The fact that his bench players competed and nearly won the game wasn’t the point, and the league agreed, fining the Spurs $250,000 for gaming the system in this way.

In their loss in Denver on Tuesday after getting blown out in Oklahoma City the night before, the Spurs again were very aware of the potential fatigue factor late in the third quarter when trailing the Nuggets.

Popovich went to the “Hack-a-[blank]” strategy of intentionally fouling a poor free throw shooter on the opposing team, stopping the clock in hopes that this player would miss the foul shots, thus giving the Spurs a strategic chance of cutting into the lead.

Denver was up by 13 points at 82-69 when the Spurs began intentionally fouling JaVale McGee — a career 57.8 percent free throw shooter. But the reasons for implementing this strategy were different than the usual ones on this night.

“They [Nuggets] were scoring every time. And were were running out of gas, running out of energy. So we figured if we could go up-and-down a few times and not even have to play any defense it might put some fuel back in the tank and it did,” Popovich said. “During that period we couldn’t knock down a couple of threes and it [the lead] stayed 9, 10, or 11 or whatever. We couldn’t get below it [double digit lead] because we couldn’t make a shot, but it gave us a little bit of rest and helped us stay in it.”

McGee hit just two of his eight free throw attempts during the stretch that Pop intentionally sent him to the line, but as he noted afterward, his team simply couldn’t make a shot, so Denver actually extended the lead to 90-75 at the end of three quarters.

It was interesting to hear Popovich say that his reasoning for going to the strategy was to get his team some rest; playing Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili 40 and 30 minutes respectively in the twilight of their careers certainly warrants that, at least to a certain extent.

But beyond Duncan and Ginobili, the Spurs aren’t an old team at all. The rest of the key players are 30 years of age or younger, and while back-to-backs are tough for every team, it seems that Popovich’s consternation surrounding them is something that’s needlessly being emphasized.

I don’t remember playing tonight. I didn’t play. Guys get a lot of money to be ready to play. No Knute Rockne speeches. It’s your job. If you’re a plumber and you don’t do your job, you don’t get any work. I don’t think a plumber needs a pep talk. If a doctor botches operations, he’s not a doctor anymore. If you’re a basketball player, you come ready. It’s called maturity. It’s your job.

Like it or not, motivation is part of an NBA coach’s job.

But that’s also precisely what Popovich is doing.

His credentials dwarf any other coach’s. He can play to his own ego and absolve himself of responsibility – and players will seek to please him. His years of success have earned him the ability to motivate this way, a method no other coach could use without alienating his team.

So, why not hold Motiejunas to what became a four-year, $31 million offer sheet once matched? Houston got something in return – a later trigger date on guaranteeing Motiejunas’ 2017-18 salary. Originally, that decision had to be made March 1 – which would’ve meant dropping Motiejunas from the team this season to prevent his salary from counting next season. Now, the Rockets can make that call in July, after this season is complete.

The following two Julys, Houston will also have a choice on guaranteeing Motiejunas’ upcoming salary or dropping him.

Essentially, Motiejunas is signing the most lucrative Hinkie Special in NBA history. If he plays well and stays healthy, the Rockets have Motiejunas at an affordable rate. If he struggles or his back injuries flare up, they can drop him with little to no penalty.

After they backed themselves into this corner, Motiejunas and his agent, B.J. Armstrong, didn’t do so bad. Considering the similarity between this contract and the Nets’ original offer sheet, it seems Houston helped Armstrong save face after a bungled free agency (which is easier to accept when you’re adding a talented reserve to a formidable team).

But for how little is guaranteed and how much control the Rockets hold over the next four years, wouldn’t Motiejunas have been better off accepting the $4,433,683 qualifying offer?

This means Motiejunas can’t sign with the Nets, who signed him to the original offer sheet, for one year.

I bet it also means Motiejunas and Houston have agreed to a new contract. Otherwise, why release him from the offer sheet? The Rockets would be giving up a tremendous amount of leverage out of the goodness of their hearts – unless this is just a prelude to a new deal with Houston.